Rogue devices showing up on windows 8 network in file exporer.

I have been having this issue as well.  It started off showing up on only one of my laptops and now it shows on both.  The curious thing is it shows up in my network devices but as soon as I see it and do a MAC search it disappears that second and another shows up in a few minutes.  One is an LG phone, another is a Lenovo computer, and another is an Amazon product and another is a Linux system.  I don't think it is harmless as the previous posters have noted.  If it were just a neighbor's phone. why would it disappear the second I discover it and do a search on it.  Why would some of these show up in Aruba as someone else suggested theirs are as well.  These are not neighbor's devices.  I hope someone can discover how to completely rid our systems of this.  Also, several times when I went to my router's webpage to sign in and change the network name and password, it said I had maximized the number of attempts to sign in.  Of course, I had made no such previous attempt.  This doesn't happen every time I go in but several since this has been happening.  I wait the allotted minutes and then I am able to sign in.  Ugh what a hassle.

I appreciate that this thread has been running for quite a while, but having just found a 'rogue' phone on my 'network', I, too, have been hunting a solution.

Strangely, this is the only thread of all the forums I have searched that actually has the solution - but a lot of people seem to have missed it.

If, when you right click on the device and select 'Properties' you get something that looks like the image posted by SPTC on February 16, 2015 (a device with a Name, Model and Model number and a MAC address, but nothing else - especially no IP address), then the solution is in the first post on that same page, from chinups3 on September 24, 2014.

I hope they forgive me, but I have restructured [and added to] their response as follows, as it was easy to overlook:

I have a fix for a 'phone' [ or other unknown device] showing in windows 8.1 [ and 7, and 8 and 10] 'Network'.  Before you check your network for strange devices, if it is showing as a phone [or some other unrecognised device] in 'Network', do the following:

Go to 'Control Panel';

then 'Administrative Tools';

then 'Services';

then look for 'Windows Connect Now [- Configure Registrar]';

right click on it and select 'Properties';

set 'Startup type:' to 'Disabled' and click on 'Apply';

then click ''Stop' and 'Ok'.

Close the pop-up and all the Control Panel windows and refresh your 'Network' display and you will not see a phone [device].

There are no strange phones out there trying to attach to your network; it's nothing to do with your router; it's not a conspiracy by your neighbours to access your network.  It's a Microsoft "feature", and I shall be logging it with them, as they do not read any of these forums!!

My own suspicions is that the above service is 'seeing' your router and somewhere along the line it is detecting the chipset manufacturer of the router and looking that up in it's database of devices and finding a 'match' (in my case Huawei).  But the lack of an IP address is the key, as it means you'll never find it as a real device because it doesn't exist in the real world and therefore is not on the network.  It's a figment of Microsoft's imagination.

Humm...

I thought that but I was concerned with the whole thing in general. I'll try that out though.

I'm replying to the OP, even though I suspect the OP is not reading these anymore.

This is not a glitch with Windows.  This is in fact by design.

Windows Connect Now searches your network not only for devices that are currently connected, but also for any devices that may potentially be capable to being on your network (if you give them permission.)

These ghost devices in a sense have been on your network, and are continously so.  Here's why:  Phones and some other WiFi devices, but especially phones, are continously scanning for available networks, even when they are connected to one, to try and find possibly a better one (there's some technical babble of what's they are doing, but basically in laymans terms this is the best way to describe it.)   Because of this, your WiFi network is continously being scanned intermittently by these devices, and your WiFi network is acknowledging of course that it is available.  This will even occur if your network is a hidden one by the way.  This is how a phone (or any other WiFi device for that matter) can actually even begin to connect to a WiFi network.  

When you are out and about, and you may need to connect to a WiFi network at say a friends house, or Restaurant even, you first have  to pull down the list of available networks to actually connect to it.  If you ever notice, depending where you are at that time, there usually is at least one more, and often times, numerous other networks besides the one you're trying to connect to available.  Most of the time those devices are listed very quickly for you.  This is not because your phone is the fastest searcher in the world.  This is because in the background while you were doing other things, or it was in your pocket, it was also searching the area for these, so it could have it available to you at a moments notice.  This feature on some phones can be turned off, and those wishing to save battery power even more may look into that, however, that for another post.

The thing is, in order to get the device list, the phone/device sends out a 'packet' of data requesting devices info, that other WiFi devices and routers recognize, and respond to with information that is appropriate, in the case of a router for instance, it SSID (the WiFi network name) and type of security challenge that will be needed if that device wishes to join.  The initial sending out the information will almost always include it's MAC address, which is USUALLY assigned to a Manufacturer.  I could go on and on about this, however, it's Googly information that is even longer winded than I am.

With Windows Connect Now, it goes and does some further work so you don't have to.  It's does similar to what the phone does when you click on the Network in your 'File Explorer', Windows Connect Now, sends out a 'packet/beacon' to not only get a list of the current devices connect to your network, but also 'POTENTIAL' other devices that respond back to it's request via whatever WiFi outlet was available to send the beacon.  Also, it reads the logs you usually can not see yourself from a router to see what has within a certain amount of time send out one of those packets, to try and give you the fullest list available of all possible devices you may connect to, if you, and that device BOTH have the proper authority to do so.  With Windows Connect Now off/disabled, you only see the actual devices that are currently on your network.  In this regard, WCN is not necessary as a feature, so it does not hurt at all to have it off, however, it does make it convenient when you want to connect to a tablet or other WiFi device that really is on your network, or at least you want it to be, then it shows you at a glance if the device itself is at least throwing off it's own beacon.

I know this is long winded, sorry for that, but hopefully in it's entirety it will help someone understand why they see these devices.

Ok.... So then how come i only see phones... I never see another PC doing the exact same thing. Or why does windows say possible devices to connect instead of the random devices saying just a MAC address? Why is there not a easily accessible setting to change this? I mean only Android devices pop up, even with our Windows phones (Windows 10 and 8.1) never show up. I also never see anyone's devices that they own show up. I mean yes your phone finds available Wi-Fi but they should bus find the radio signal and not have to try connecting. Now Wi-Fi sense is a thing where it connects to popular wifi but it never connects to ones that require a password unless you have successful signed in. (sorry for the bad grammar, any Microsoft browser on mobile and PC have a pain trying to delete in these boxes... Fix it Microsoft) all I'm saying is that it seems really dumb for this "feature" (windows connect now) makes phones try to connect when they might not be owned by me.